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8/2/15

Hello everyone, July was a busy month full of project planning, vacations, and yard work (who else grows pumpkins?!). But even so, I still managed plenty of time to get into the studio and bring these beauties into existence.

Following onlast months experimentwith re-machining and powder coating, I decided to up the ante further and see if the powder coating was durable enough to survive the anodizing process.

After a few tests and adjusting the temperatures on a few things, I was able to get really great results.

This work also has some interesting mechanical features to how it is assembled which I will explain below.

The Br444 Print (20"x18") Still really enjoying making these.

The center rings for this piece were the most time consuming, I actually machined these entirely on my manual tools so I could take my time and make sure they came out perfect. It is sometimes more fun, and more accurate overall to do it this way, especially for small batch parts.

These are the Cam Screws that hold each of the shaped pins in place. I just modified some stainless cap screws, mounting them eccentrically and machining the head into a cam shape.

Once mounted into the center ring, turning each of the screws provides a radial clamping force to secure each of the pins.

This is a funny little collet adapter I created to machine each of the pins. It was sort of a unique setup, normally you do not turn dowels in that direction. It worked rather well though.

Again, I had never attempted to anodize parts that had been powder coated before. I always assumed the powder would never hold up to being exposed to several types of acid, being heated and cooled repeatedly, and the electro-chemical reaction of the anodizing process, but to my surprise it did.

It definitely adds a considerable amount of time to the fabrication of a part, and there is zero room for error as making a mistake means stripping the part and starting over, but it is a process that I think will be put to very good use in the future.

Lastly, I just wanted to officially announce that my art book is now Being printed in its 4th edition.

In preparation for a number of upcoming exhibitions, I have completely reworked much of the book, added lots of new material and shop photography, and brought it completely up to date with my portfolio of new works. For those of you who have enjoyed following my work over the years, I hope you might consider buying a copy to help support and share my work with others. Links below.